There are many artificial lures (hereafter "lures" for brevity) used to catch fish by casting a line with a spinning rod, casting rod, or spin-casting rod. Among the different types of lures used, there are floating lures which are `worked` on the surface of the water; hollow lures, and solid lures (that is, cavity-free and not hollow), which may not float by themselves, and which are worked under the surface of the water ("underwater"). By "worked" I refer to manipulation of the rod and line by the angler in such a way as to impart movement to the lure with the expectation that such movement might attract the attention of fish. Each lure is constructed for a special action, and purposely to duplicate special condition, so that a fish will be impelled to strike the lure.
This invention relates particularly to lures with a cavity therein, and still more particularly to forward-weighted lures of the type having an elongate body and spinner blade (hereafter "spinner") each having a density greater than that of water, which lure is fished by moving it in a generally horizontal attitude through the water to give the lure the desired fish-attracting action. Such movement is typically provided either by trolling the lure behind a moving boat, or retrieving the lure at a drift-fishing speed so that sufficient speed is given the lure irrespective of how such speed is generated. A lure is trolled at an essentially constant distance from the boat and its speed through the water is determined by the speed of the boat. A lure is retrieved after it is cast, by manually reeling it in with a reel on a rod. By "sufficient speed" I refer to a speed at which the lure travels in a generally horizontal disposition with the spinner spinning so as to create the requisite flash in the water to attract fish. In commonly used forward-weighted lures, the fishing line is attached to an eyelet (hereafter "line eyelet" ) provided at one end (the nose, or front end) of the lure, and the hook is attached to an eyelet ("hook-attaching eyelet") at the other end (tail portion), with the weighted body between the ends. To maintain the conventional spinner type lure in the horizontal attitude, it is critical that the lure travel in the water at sufficient speed, as defined hereinabove.
Since retrieving a lure manually at sufficient speed is arduous and requires considerable concentration on the part of the fisherman, he usually prefers to troll the lure behind a motor-boat. Over a period of a few hours this procedure consumes several gallons of gasoline which is getting progressively more expensive even when it is available. It is much more desirable to fish without running the motor on the boat, that is, to drift fish, with or without a bobber. Since a boat generally drifts relatively slowly, that is at a drifting velocity in the range from about 1 mile per hour (mph) to about 8 mph, under normal wind and current conditions, it becomes important that the lure attract fish at drifting velocity. A typical lure used with a spinning or casting rod at drifting velocity results in the lure dangling in the water with an angular orientation greater than about 45.degree. from the horizontal, and more generally, in a nearly upright position, that is, with the body of the lure nearly directly above the spinner, with the hook hanging at the bottom. In this attitude the lure cannot and does not provide the action or turbulence to attract fish.
Various lures have been designed to be fished at drifting velocity. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,463 discloses a combination of weight member and hollow body, angled relative to each other, and with an eyelet for attaching the fishing line placed intermediate the weight member and hollow body. U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,343 teaches a lure with a weighted member and a body portion including plastic strands which camouflage a fish hook. A spinner blade is spaced apart from the body portion in front of it, and the fishing line is attached intermediate the body portion and weighted member.
There are relatively few spinner type lures (that is, having spinner blades) of the type having an elongate heavy body which by itself provides the necessary weight to give a lure the forward weight required to imbue it with a swimming movement simulating that of a minnow. Such lures are distinct from those generally referred to as "jigs" which are relatively small, weighted lures for underwater use, in which lures a metal or other heavy material is molded around the upper shank portion of a fishing hook. Such jigs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,538,484; 3,193,963; 3,922,811 and 3,959,060. These jigs are typically provided with an eyelet protruding from intermediate the main body, to which eyelet a fishing line is attached in the usual manner. These jigs are, as the term implies, fished by "jigging" them, that is, giving them a sporadic, darting, generally erratic movement, rather than a relatively steady linear movement characteristic of a lure with a spinner which is spaced apart from a hook with beads or other spacer means.
A lure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,239,802 which seeks to produce a gliding or darting of the lure in an arcuate path, and when the lure is used for trolling, a combined darting and wriggling movement is produced. To do so, the lure is necessarily winged and is not of the spinner type, so that its action is quite different from that provided by an unwinged spinner type lure. Moreover, though it teaches a central line attaching eyelet so the lure can be used in a still-fishing or very slow trolling operation and maintain a horizontal attitude, the action imparted the lure is a glide and dart action. This type of action which is imparted irrespective of which of several eyelets on the lure is used, is quite different from a side to side swimming action of a minnow.
More specifically, this invention is particularly related to a spinner type lure which, because it is primarily directed to catching fish at drift velocity, requires that the lure be laterally pivotable about a line eyelet located near the center of mass of the lure, and that the line eyelet be integrally formed with the wire shaft which is removably inserted in a cavity in the body of the lure. The wire shaft carries a spinner blade and bead spacing means spacing the body from a removably attached hook.
A lure for still-fishing with live bait and not of the spinner type, which lure recognized the problem of balancing a lure underwater, but relies on the live bait to attract the fish, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,639. Spinner type lures do not rely on live bait to attract fish, though it is conventional to hook a worm, preferably hiding the hook, especially when the fish sought is a soft-striking fish like a wall-eye, rather than a hard-striking fish like a bass or salmon. For hard-striking fish the worm is unnecessary though the hook may nevertheless be camouflaged with a feather, or provided with a weed-repelling `finger` or the like.
It will be appreciated that casting a spinner type lure any substantial distance with a large worm such as a `nightcrawler` attached to the hook, without shredding the worm is not easy, and it is much preferred to cast the spinner and hooked worm only a relatively short distance and thereafter either drift-fish or troll the lure.
Still another lure which recognized the problem of a conventional spinner type lure angling downward due to gravity even when the lure is retrieved at relatively low speeds, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,319. This lure provides a weighted member cradled between two eyelets one of which is used to attach the fishing line, and the other, at the front, is used to thread the line to give the lure the desired horizontal attitude when it is pulled through the water.